


Who Saved Her First?

by QueenBookBuff



Series: She belongs to me [3]
Category: That '70s Show
Genre: A Hyde who is softer with Jackie, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Angst, Drama, F/M, Revenge, Soul-Searching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26505760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBookBuff/pseuds/QueenBookBuff
Summary: This is the third part of She Belongs to Me. You really need to read the series in order but this one could stand alone.Kelso contemplates how it is possible that Hyde and Jackie are that connected already, this examines a world where Kelso is going to take a darker path in getting Jackie back.
Relationships: Jackie Burkhart/Michael Kelso, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Series: She belongs to me [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921537
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	Who Saved Her First?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at this Fan Fiction thing so please be kind. I do this to relax and it gives me joy. I Love reading others works. The next chapter in this series will be from Hyde's point of view. Then back to Kelso with Eric taking a bigger part. The last chapter will examine Hyde's and Kelso's point of view at the same time.

He lies on his bed staring up at his ceiling, unseeing his Zeppelin and Farrah Faucet Poster. His mind adrift and full of confusion. His mom had come in earlier offering ice for his face and a band aid for his gash. He refused. He wants to experience every throb, ache and pulsating moment of pain. The physical pain is the only thing stopping him from coming unglued. He is concentrating on the agony in his face, so he can block the unmeasurable ache in his mind and heart. He would do anything for his heart to stop beating to the rhythm of Jackie’s name.

He wonders briefly why this is happening to him. He isn’t deep enough at this point in his life to contemplate the idea of the Universe, God, Fate or whoever pulls the strings is punishing him for hurting Jackie. 

If you asked him why he cheated he wouldn’t be able to give you an answer. He doesn't know. It’s not like the girls who he cheated with meant anything. Sadly being faithful and love is not married in his mind.

If anyone had asked at any point when he was screwing around if he loved Jackie, he would have been offended. Of course, he loves Jackie. He’s loved her since he first found her on a park swing with her pigtails bouncing and her smile lighting up the park.

No matter what he has said to his dumb ass friends, no matter what off the cuff comment he made, or his reckless disregard for her feelings he l **oves** her. To him those are things she should have never found out about so how can he be sorry?

He feels a special claim on Jackie. He has known her the longest and long before she joined the basement she was completely **HIS**. Jackie was **HIS.** His someone he didn’t have to impress. Jackie may act shallow, but she always accepted him for him. 

Her loyalty should be to him, this idea is unwavering in his mind. Long before they tumbled over the line from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend, they were best fiends. How can she hurt him this way? 

Her ever present voice answers immediately

_“Michael, you hurt me.”_

His mind answers her with a kick in the dirt with his arms crossed and yells 

_“Damn Jackie? I didn't mean it.”_

He never means to hurt her.

That right there is his shield. He didn’t mean to, so that should absolve all his crimes. He would never set out to hurt her. Why can’t she forgive him?

_“I’ll never forgive you”_

Her words are like one of his super balls, Bouncing nonstop in his head.

It won't stop pinging around his thoughts. She’s always forgiven him. Why? Why won't she forgive California?

The truth is a nasty whisper in his ear.

_“You left her. You made a promise and ran. Just like her parents.”_

His stubborn mind shuts it down firmly. He won’t go there. He’s the victim. He’s the one hurt. It’s Hyde’s fault. He dogged his girl. 

As his mind continues to ponder the mess he is in, what still won’t settle in his mind is Jackie and Hyde's immediate comfort with each other. No fucking way Hyde, the king of the hard asses, says “I love you” into a girl's hair after a summer fling. No way he carries her up the stairs like a princess almost like he has done it a thousand times.

His heart is starting to imagine sins that don’t exist and his bitterness is turning into something unhealthy and unwise. Changing a heart that has always had an area of innocence no matter what stupid thing he has done. That corner is dying fast. 

As he finally begins to drift off, his mind asks one more question to his heart

_How could Jackie pick someone she’s known for two years over him? Her person for a lifetime, Her soul mate. The girl who has always saved him_. 

What he can’t understand in his pain is Jackie saves him, but he doesn't’ do the same for her.

What his dream, heart, and mind can’t tell him is there **IS** a secret kept by Hyde and Jackie. A never spilled and tucked into the most secure parts of their hearts secret and that is

**_Hyde knew her first._ **

  
  


**He doesn't know** that a small and hurt Jackie with blood running down her leg, was found by an already world wise 7 year old Hyde.

**He doesn’t know** Hyde gave her a piggyback ride home, helped her clean her knee and gave the first of many lectures on being safe and not stupid.

**He doesn’t know** that Jackie asked him to come back because she was lonely and that the part of Hyde that protects was worried she would wander away again, so he came back.

**He doesn't know** that the reason Hyde yells at Jackie about eating is because he knows she hates eating alone, that her parents have left her so many times that sitting at the empty table makes her cry.

 **He doesn’t know** that Hyde’s watched her pass out from hunger and that it scared the carp of him. This starts a new lecture series and consists of _learning how to make a damn sandwich for the love of God._

**He doesn’t know** that Jackie use to hide Hyde in her closet, so his mom wouldn't hit him. That he has never had to hide his shit from her, and she has never judged him for it. That she has snuck him food more times than can be counted. That all her nasty words were a cover, so no one but him knew she cared.

**He doesn’t know** that Jackie's been pissing off and making up with Hyde her whole life and that calling her a prissy brat is a sign of affection, that he has been using since she was 7.

**_He doesn’t know_ **that they got in a huge fight when they were 12 and 13 because she asked to meet his friends and he refused. Stupidly thinking in his head that he didn’t want to share her. Even then they were a storm. Two opposing forces always trying to find balance and for two years they didn’t talk because they are so damn stubborn.

**_He doesn’t know_ ** that when he took Jackie to the basement for the first time and Hyde laid eyes on her for the first time in two years, he almost jumped up out of his chair and grabbed her. He doesn’t know that when Hyde trudged home that night, Jackie was waiting for him. She hugged him and whispered 

“I missed you. I’m sorry.”

**_He doesn’t know_ ** that Hyde closed his eyes and thanked the God he doesn't’ believe in that she was back, and he softly kissed her forehead and escorted her home like he had done a million times before.

**_He doesn’t know._ **that the real reason she forgave Michael all those times was an unconscious fear she would lose Hyde again.

**_What he does know_** but never cared to examine or comment on is the minute Jackie became a regular in the basement Hyde went from wearing his shades to most of the time to never being without them. That Hyde had to protect his constant and protective gaze on Jackie.

**_He does know_ ** but always figured Hyde was trying to burn him, that Hyde is the only one who ever tried to get him caught when he was cheating.

**_He does know_ **but has chosen to ignore it that something major shifted between Jackie and Hyde during prom. 

**_He does knows_ **Jackie has always run to Hyde when she is unhappy and that Hyde has always hated it. He has always liked that it annoyed Hyde, but he never examined too much why. What never occurred to him was that Hyde hated it because he was pissed Kelso was hurting the girl he loved.

What he is blind to is Jackie runs to Hyde about all her pain. Hyde is her shelter. It is where she rests from the storm. He has always been the person who saves her. 

  
  


**_Hyde was_** her shelter when her dad first discovered her mom was cheating and the screaming got so bad that she called him and he climbed the tree by her window, and he held her all night long.

**_Hyde was_ ** her savior after a game when two football players went after her. He is unaware that Hyde almost killed the guy who tried to hurt her. He doesn’t know that a very stern episode was added to Hyde’s lecture series about “Never walking in the DAMN DARK JACKIE by yourself and have you heard of the buddy system?” As he pressed her to his chest in horror of what could have happened to her. 

**Hyde was** her secret keeper about the event. Kelso is unaware that he brought her home, put her in the shower and helped her put on her favorite PJs, and that Hydes waits in the shadows and watches her until she is in her car now after every game. He never misses. 

_He doesn't know that Hyde’s loved Jackie his whole life and that he would do anything for her_. 

He turns in his sleep, a sleep that is still fairly innocent. He is completely unaware he will never rest this quiet again. For now, he is still the Kelso who loves puppies, bouncy balls and loves his friends. This is the last night before he wakes and a guy who has never as much planned out what to wear the next day will put into motion, events that will echo forever in the hearts of the basement gang.

Yet for now……

Eric sleeps and believes his world can be righted.

Donna is certain as she lays down Jackie will get bored with Hyde and go back to Kelso.

Fez tries to block the worry that his friends will fall apart as he drifts off into a fitful sleep.

Jackie and Hyde are curled up together, Hyde protectively holding her to him even in his sleep. They both think the worst has passed, and they are lost in their love.

BUT

When Morning comes a Kelso meaner, darker, and fueled by the desire to seek revenge will wake and do what he must do to get Jackie back no matter the cost.


End file.
